STELLA SYNDROME. ✓

I. stella

I.
s t e l l a

━━

JIMIN didn't know why hoseok loved movie day so much, but he had learned to tolerate it.

it was the same as every sunday night: they would each be doing whatever they wished until the man-child would scream at the top of his lungs and run around like a squirrel running from a dog. he would grab your shirt and practically drag you along the hardwood floor if you didn't immediately plunk down on a couch and put your phone up. the phone rule wasn't hoseok's idea; it was seokjin's. go figure.

"movienightmovienightmovienight—!" jimin covered his ears and winced as the sunshine galloped by, two pillows in his grasp. i pity the person who crosses him today, he thought to himself and decided he was going to make the popcorn since he was the first one down.

jimin's heartstrings tightened when he turned the corner. jungkook was standing by the pantry, hair tousled and mouth slightly ajar while a line of sweat trickled down his jawline. the golden maknae was wearing a white t-shirt soaked through with sweat revealing his breathtaking abs and track pants. the youngest's eyes were flitting around the shelves, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. jimin sucked in a breath—god he was handsome.

yes, he had been painfully in love with jungkook for about a year now. for the first years that they had been in bangtan together, jimin had always harbored feelings for the brunette boy but only recognized them when he saw jungkook cry emotionally for the first time. he remembered reaching forward to hug him and felt truly depressed that he was crying and would do anything to make him happy again and it hit him—he loved him.

then everything got weird. every time jungkook was around, jimin got flustered and anxious. he started avoiding talking to him one on one because he was afraid that if jungkook gave him one of those heart-melting smiles, all of jimin's walls he had steadily built up would crumble and all of his feelings for him would slip out. after about three months of that, jimin decided to ignore the maknae altogether. he didn't go into the room if jungkook was in it; didn't dance or sing with him anymore; didn't even speak of him. whenever anything and everything jungkook was present, mentioned, or even on a electronic screen, he froze, made some petty excuse, and exited.

the members were noticing and giving him weird looks now, but he shut those out too. he'd come up with another excuse if they asked him about it. jimin winced internally; he despised lying to the other members just as much as he hated distancing himself from jungkook. but he had to or everything would change, and all of them would give him pitying expressions and he would hate himself a thousand times more.

"oh, hey chim." jimin snapped back to reality to the younger giving him a strained smile. "i was going to make the popcorn, but namjoon forgot to buy some more when he was at the store."

jimin blinked twice, words fumbling on his tongue and struggling to form into a normal sentence. eventually he came up with, "that's why we should always make seokjin go, even if he does buy the 'lightly buttered' kind."

jungkook chuckled, and heat bloomed on jimin's face. "true that. hey," his tone suddenly became a little more serious, and jimin tensed. "we haven't really had any time to dance together in a while, do you want to—"

"sorry, i-i'm busy tomorrow," jimin stammered, trying not to flinch when jungkook's pleasant face wavered. "and tuesday. a-and the rest of the week."

"oh," the other boy mumbled, disappointment and hurt flickering across his features, and jimin was overwhelmed with self-loathing. "okay."

he forced himself to pivot on his heel and mutter a quick apology over his shoulder before striding out of the room.

━━

THAT night jimin dreamed of jungkook.

this was a normal thing that usually happened nightly, but there was something different about this one. when jimin finally drifted into a slumber, the first thing he saw was the brilliant midnight sky, billions of twinkling stars etched into the milky way's fabric in glorious patterns. he glanced around—whoa. when he balled his hands into fists, it felt like these were his real hands; his real body hovering in the open air. jimin was flying.

but the giddy feeling didn't last long. "jimin!" his eyes immediately jumped to the floating figure above him and then widened—it was jungkook. the boy was struggling to breathe, nails clawing at his throat as he reached a hand out to jimin for help. his emotions overcame him—i need to save him!

but apparently his dream-body wasn't having any of that. to his dismay, jimin's arms began to raise in the other singer's direction and yellow light began shooting from his fingertips and struck him. jungkook gasped in shock, his skin turning the same golden color of the light that was hitting him until his entire body was glowing. jimin watched in horror, trying to make his lips form, "i'm sorry, i don't know—"

abruptly, his hands began absorbing jungkook. he could only silently scream as everything in this world he truly cherished was ripped into his own palms. when all traces of the golden maknae's humanity were gone, a single flaming star stood where he used to be, gleam almost taunting jimin.

and then, jimin felt himself begin to fall through the clouds towards the impending earth.

he shot up in his bed, chest heaving for air. what was that? a dream that strange couldn't have been his own mind. there's no explanation for this...

his heart stopped beating. no. it can't be. there hasn't been a single case of it in a hundred years.

the stella syndrome. the horrifying, incredibly rare disease that is inflicted upon the person who is unaware of another's love for them. the person who desires them dreams of their crush every night over and over, while the loved one loses sleep in the process. no one really knew much else about it except that disastrous events happened to the crush while the one who's crushing can only watch. there was no cure except to confess your feelings and the other to return them, but in most accounts, that never happened.

jimin shook his head. it couldn't be. there was no way that the disease he studied in high school had returned, and to him of all people; and cause terrible things to happen to jungkook. his heart lurched—he would never let that happen.

right?